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Millersville University (MU) is one of 36 post-secondary institutions to be awarded part of the $1 million in grants as part of the Wolf administration’s “It’s On Us PA” campaign, which is aimed at addressing sexual assault on college campuses.
“We’re delighted to receive funding to supplement existing prevention and awareness programming,” says Jayme Trogus, director of the Center for Health Education and Promotion at MU. “The funding will enable us to not only enhance the numerous programs already in place, but will allow us to expand our prevention programs, provide additional training to support and respond to survivors of sexual violence, and implement assessment initiatives to better inform and direct our prevention, reporting, and response to sexual violence.”
The individual grants, which totaled up to $30,000 each, were awarded to post secondary institutions across the state. The grants will be used to implement strategies on campuses that address the goals of the Governor’s “It’s On Us” PA campaign. Those goals include improving awareness, removing or reducing barriers that prevent survivors of sexual violence from reporting or accessing vital resources and demonstrating significant, proactive and sustainable leadership to change campus culture.
A significant portion of the $29,994 that MU will receive through the grant will pay for 30 members of the campus community to attend the four and a half day Green Dot training program, an evidence based bystander intervention program designed to reduce power-based violence. Additional monies will be used for a speaker, Sofie Karasek, featured in the Hunting Ground documentary and education director at End Rape on Campus, to speak about sexual violence, Title IX and ways for students to become engaged in ending sexual violence on our campus. Karasek will also provide consultation services to assess the current prevention programming provided at MU and offer feedback on the quality of our response and reporting systems.
The remaining funding will help implement the Red Flag Campaign in February during Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month and develop and implement a consent awareness campaign. It will also pay for training staff to provide support to survivors of sexual violence, and pay for assessment initiatives to gather information from students in order to best inform prevention, intervention, support and reporting processes moving forward.
Last January Pennsylvania became the first state to launch an “It’s On Us” campaign. Since its launch in January 2015, over 1,000 people have taken the pledge.
For more information on Millersville’s programs visit http://www.millersville.edu/sexualviolence/prevention-strategies.php.
For more information on the “It’s On Us” PA campaign, visit https://www.governor.pa.gov/its-on-us/.
For more information about the ‘It’s On Us’ organization, visit http://www.itsonus.org/.
